It’s a fantastic day to be a Marvel fan, because Marvel Studios has released the first full-length trailer for the highly anticipated Fantastic Four: First Steps.
This retro-futuristic venture into the MCU wastes no time in reacquainting us with Marvel’s First Family or their well-trodden backstory, with the trailer opening with a Fantastic Four crash course from talk show host Ted Gilbert (Mark Gatiss).
Watch: ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ teaser: Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and company power up
“We all know the story,” he says. (And after several Fantastic Four films and reboots, we really do.) “Four brave astronauts head up into space and come back forever changed.”
These astronauts are, of course, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn). Each returned to Earth with new superpowers. Reed is now the extra-stretchy Mr. Fantastic, while Sue can wield forcefields and turn invisible, earning her the moniker of Invisible Woman. Ben, aka the Thing, developed super strength and invulnerability, and hothead Johnny burns up as the Human Torch.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ trailer showcases all these power sets, but more importantly, it spends time fleshing out the characters’ family dynamic, from Ben praising robot H.E.R.B.I.E.’s cooking to Johnny accidentally figuring out that Sue and Reed are expecting a child.
But of course, every superhero movie needs a villain, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is working with two of Marvel’s biggest baddies. First up is the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who glides down to Earth with some awful news. “Your planet is now marked for death,” she declares.
Why? Because the planet-eating Galactus (Ralph Ineson) is on his way. The trailer shows off a glimpse of his gargantuan shadow looming over Manhattan, along with his boots stomping through the streets of New York. Looks like the Fantastic Four have their work cut out for them.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters July 25.
